1001 Excuses on why grease exhaust system was not cleaned updated

April 11, 2017 · Don Pfleiderer

These are excuses that we have been sent on why the system was not cleaned completely. Most can be solved simply by scheduling additional time and dates and/or making sure the job is correctly quoted/surveyed. The other issue that is prevalent is the complete lack of understanding what clean is and what the minimum standard to remove "ALL" combustable material even if it takes extra time or days. None of these are excusable and the only acceptable result is to clean the system properly and completely each time.
1) We did our best (BIG FLAG THAT THERE IS A LOT LEFT TO DO!!)
2) There was not enough time 
3) The camera did not work 
4) There was only nonflammable old burnt on grease and carbon left (See news on the many various fires lately from the "Non-flamable" carbon starting fire include locations done by national vendor who made that statement)
5) It was too dirty to start with, we will work on it a little at a time(biggest lie in the industry)  6) One of the crew too sick to work so we only could do so much, the rest will have to wait for next cycle. 
7) Equipment broke down so we could only do part. We will reschedule the rest for next cycle (OR NOT).  
8) We do not have it bid(quoted) for this much time
9) The carbon is too burned onto the metal and won't come off 
10) We sprayed the wok grease and got off the fire danger(Don's note to all:  This style of cooking requires more work, different chemicals, and stronger equipment in normal situations that standard animal fan grease, however it does come off with a little more effort)
11) We got most of it and we don't think it is a fire danger any more(see previous posts!)
12) The previous company did not do a good job. It is better than they left it. 
13) My pictures from my workers show it clean!! (Maybe get baseline pictures to know what is missing)
14) Why do we need more than 2(3,4,5- fill in the blank) pictures? 
15) How clean is clean? It looks pretty good compared to before.  
16) It is cleaned down to less than 2000 microns(NFPA96 states allGrease removed to less than 2 microns!) 
17) We can't reach that high up 
18) Our contract said to clean as far as we could reach by hand only  
19) Our contract states hood cleaning, nothing about the ducts  
20)  There are inaccessible areas (The old get out of jail free card getting played so they don't have to actually clean anything)  
21)  My boss said we are not getting paid enough to clean the ductwork above the ceiling 22) It is too cold out  
23) It is too hot out  
24) It is raining out 
25) It is snowing out 
26) It is too icky in there 
27) It is below freezing (note that almost all systems can be cleaned even in  below zero temps with proper equipment)  
28) We don't have any ladders 
29) Our insurance does not cover working more that a 4' height
30) There is too much snow on the roof
31) I only get paid a percentage of the job total and this will take too long for the pay we get.
32) No hinges on the fan. (that should have been handled during the bid process)
33) There is too much water on the roof to work
34) There  is too much snow on the roof to work
35) There was no power for our equipment. Followed up by "we will catch it next cycle"
36) No roof (or Mall) access from landlord. Followed up by "We will catch it next cycle"
37) One of the crew was having a baby. (Actually his wife)
38) We could not find the ductwork. (It was easily accessed above the ceiling tile grid in this case)
39) The horizontal duct leaks so we do clean duct that leaks. (Must never have heard of plastic and wet vacuums)
40) We did not have any information on our work order to clean the duct
41) Only the bottom part of the job was bid. 
42) It was type 2 ductwork and we don't clean greasy type 2 ductwork that could leak. You can't make us since there are no standards for type 2 duct! 
43) We can't pass security clearance. 
44) Our crew quit in middle of the job. (They did send in partial pictures trying to pass the job)
45) The upper filter rails and grease troughs are not our responsibility. (I will not pass jobs with the filter rails not cleaned)
46) The store MOD signed the work order approving the job so it was good enough. (90 percent of the system was not done at this location)
47)  PLEASE SEND IN YOUR BEST EXCUSES OR ONES THAT YOU HAVE HEARD!!  

Originally published April 11, 2017 on Tales of the Greaser.

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